Abstract: An assistant for the creation of layouts/reports for databases is disclosed. A layout for a database is the arrangement of information for the database such as for data entry or screen viewing, and a report (or report format) for a database is the arrangement of information from the database for presentation of the data in a printed document or with on-line viewing. The assistant serves to automate in the creation of the layout/reports after an interview sequence with a user.

Abstract: Method of automatically generating a construction specification that is immediately viewable and editable in real time, online. Construction project information can be automatically extracted from a CAD drawing or from a checklist that is filled out online, and a project specification based on a standardized base document automatically generated.

Abstract: A method for production and post-production processing of multi-media input data where the method comprises the steps of inputting one or more multi-media input data sets inputting one or more templates and applying the one or more templates to the one or more input data sets so to produce a processed output data set for storage, and/or display and/or further processing.

Abstract: A method for providing textual information in a network environment, the method comprising: receiving a request via a network for text-editable textual information; converting the text-editable textual information into a non-text-editable textual format on line upon receiving the request; and sending the non-text-editable textual information via the network. Network-based systems are also disclosed.

Abstract: When drawing up a hierarchically structured document in an author file, a reference to a data record of a file already stored in the authoring system can be generated. The author file is sub-classified into individual data records which are respectively stored as pages on an internet server. The added reference is converted into an HTML page address.

Abstract: A system and method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention addresses the problems of unlinked or sparsely linked documents by linking them using a set of automatically extracted content words, the “index terms.” Upon receiving a list of documents for indexing, the system and method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention automatically selects the terms to be indexed and generates a hypertext concordance (an “HC”). A concordance is an index where each of the indexed terms is listed with surrounding text, i.e., in context. As well, each of the indexed terms in the HC is given a hyperlink, instead of a page number, back to the occurrence of the term in a version of the indexed document. In one embodiment of the invention, the original document that has been indexed is also revised to include hyperlinks from the index terms into the HC.

Abstract: The present invention displays text within a region by identifying text boxes within the region. To identify the text boxes, the invention uses scan lines that are spaced at intervals that are smaller than the text height of the text to be placed in the boxes. These scan lines are combined to identify the full text boxes. Additionally, under the invention, a region is transformed before text boxes are generated for the region. The transform is an inverse of a text transform that is applied to the text placed in the region. This allows rotated and skewed text to be placed in the region. The invention also facilitates displaying a single text string across several disjointed regions.

Abstract: An automatic card-based presentation generation system programmatically creates card-based presentation documents from source documents by transforming a card layout style specification into presentation specifications which at run-time, are used to generate formatting object descriptions. The formatting object descriptions are then used to actually create card-based presentation documents. The invention includes a presentation style transformer and a card-based presentation generator. The presentation style transformer takes a card layout style specification (CLSS) and a card display schema (CDS) and transforms them into card-based presentation specifications (CPS). The card-based presentation generator takes the card-based presentation specifications and a card-based document content to create formatting object descriptions.

Abstract: A method for generating a wrapper grammar for a file having a structure of a particular format includes providing at least one sample file of the particular format, where the particular format comprises a plurality of string tokens. Each sample file includes a plurality of tokens (data strings) which may be actual data from the document, an HTML tag or some other grammatical separator. The sample file of the particular format is then processed by annotating attributable tokens with a user-defined attribute, such as Author, Title, etc. from a set of attributes to form an annotated sample set. The annotated sample set is then evaluated to determine if wrapper grammar generation is possible, and if it is possible, a wrapper grammar for the files having a structure of the particular format is generated. Preferably, the annotated sample set is evaluated by determining if all attributes in the annotated sample set are distinguishable from one another.

Abstract: A method and computer program product are provided for implementing supervision functions for Internet browsing. A user profile record is maintained. A universal resource locator (URL) is identified. Approval is determined for the identified URL. The URL is displayed according to the user profile record. A view record is created and the screen is optionally captured at prescribed events and time intervals. The user profile record includes a display level, a URL history capture, and trust lists. The display level includes approved, monitored and restricted options. The URL history capture includes approved, monitored and restricted options and defined threshold values. Trusted URLs are allowed to delegate trust to links on their pages. URLs are allowed to inherit trust from a trusted URL. A supervised user may create an explanation for a bad choice to a history record. The trust lists include a list of approved web sites.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system, method, and program for linking to data from a document that includes a pointer to the data in a first storage device, which may be maintained in a network file server. A first request to access the data addressed by the pointer in the document is processed. Information on alternate storage devices, such as alternate file servers in the network, and data therein is processed to determine whether a copy of the data is present in a second storage device. A second request is submitted to access the copy of the data in the second storage device after determining that the information indicates that the second storage device includes the data. The accessed copy of the data, received in response to the second request, is then returned to the first request.

Abstract: Spreadsheet cells are bound to external objects using a direct communication scheme having little processing overhead. A spreadsheet cell is bound to an object external to the spreadsheet, exposing a property or method of the object. The exposed property or method can then be used to update the value of the spreadsheet cell, either automatically when the exposed property changes, or in response to a request from the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is preferably a spreadsheet COM control, which is embedded in a web page that is preferably browsed with a Microsoft INTERNET EXPLORER™ browser. The external object is also preferably embedded in the web page and may include an automatic control that is used to acquire data over a network such as the Internet.

Abstract: An efficient method is described for laying out a table for display. The method may be used to display tables on a small footprint device, such as a smart cellular phone, a personal data assistant, a handheld computer, etc. Small footprint devices typically have smaller displays than other computing systems such as desktop computers. In one embodiment the method is employed to lay out HTML tables in a web browser running on a small footprint device.